Few lil sneaky lies in there on Victoria's part, but you know she would do it

1. My name is VICTORIA GRAYSON am the respondent Mother in these proceedings.

The applicant father and husband is CONRAD GRAYSON. I refer to the applicant father's affidavit of 10 September 1993.

I, VICTORIA GRAYSON of SOUTH HAMPTON make an oath and say:

Response

1. I agree with paragraphs 1-5. In relation to paragraph 6 I deny the assertion that I fabricated a pregnancy.

2. I say that the miscarriage I endured in January 1987 was traumatising for me.

3. I refer to paragraphs 7 and 8 and I agree that I preferred to stay at the matrimonial home in South Hampton. I do not enjoy the busy city as much as the quiet beach. However, I deny that I spent 'as little time as possible,' in New York City, where the husband worked. I was there at least every weekend during the winter months and most week days too. I did sometimes stay in South Hampton during the week if I needed to relax and there were no social events for me to attend. I deny that it meant we were 'often apart.' On the times I was in the city the husband was working or travelling and we would have been apart anyway.

4. The husband travelled interstate at least once a month, often more, for the duration of the marriage. This is what contributed to our often being separated.

5. The husband was sleeping with multiple other women for the duration of the marriage.

6. I refer to paragraph 6 and agree that I did not work in the sense that I earned money. However, I made intangible contributions to the family home and to the image of the company with the charities I managed. They were all branded with Grayson Global and they contributed substantially to the image of the company as one with global outlook.

7. I also organized events and luncheons in the name of the company which proved to be extremely lucrative in the sense that the Father brokered deals over them. As such I deny that he was the only one who made tangible contributions to the marriage and I say that although I did not work at the office I still put substantial time and effort into Grayson Global.

husband brokered many business deals worth millions of dollars at these events. They were specifically designed to facilitate business interaction between the husband and other parties.

9. As such my contributions to Grayson Global have been substantial.

10. I refer to paragraphs 10-13 and I agree that I met DAVID CLARKE on New Years Eve 1991. I deny that our relationship started in early 1992.

Separation Under One Roof

11. I refer to paragraph 18 and agree that I moved my things into a spare bedroom in May 1992. I did so because things between us had become generally distant. I put it down to the husband's busy work schedule and the fact that he was generally disinterested in me.

12. Additionally he would come home late and leave early and we had separate schedules. It was more practical for us to have separate bedrooms.

13. I say that separation under one roof occurred in or around December 1992. The husband and I were living separate lives. We slept in separate bedrooms and conversed hardly at all. Though we still maintained a united relationship to the public, we were separated for the purposes of a private marriage.

14. The only times we were together was at Grayson Global corporate events, or events held in Grayson name. As sworn above, I invested much of my time in the company and felt some responsibility towards it. I felt like a part of the company and felt neglectful not attending events or functions with the husband, though I felt no affinity towards him when we attended together.

15. In private, however, we conducted no family activities. together. We spent time with the child separately.

16. In December 1992 the husband began a relationship with a woman in his office. He did not keep it a secret from me. I believed the marriage was over.

17. My relationship with David Clarke began in January 1993, after separation under one roof had already occurred. We had been on good terms for over a year and I was in love with him.

18. I believed pursing a relationship with David was justified given the husband's extramarital relationship with and the fact that I considered us separated. I loved David.

19. When I began my relationship with David Clarke, I immediately began thinking about how to conduct my exit from the marriage and from the Grayson name. I felt I needed to be careful about it because I believed the husband would not take kindly to it.

20. I refer to paragraph 24 of the husband's affidavit and deny I was worried about my social status. However, I did believe the husband would want to keep me by his side for publicity reasons, as he states. I believed the husband wanted to keep me as a wife in the legal sense and in the public eye.

21. Grayson Global relies heavily on its image and reputation for business. It has been a family company since its inception and as owners of the company, the husband and I were both heavily representative of this image.

22. In leaving the marriage I did not want to damage the image of the company which, given (as referred to above) that I had made substantial contributions to, it was important to me even though I would not be part of the family image once I had left.

23. I agree that I admitted to my relationship on August 20 when the husband confronted me about it and that I told him David would be a better father.

24. The statement was said in the context of me telling the husbandI believed he had not been spending enough time with the child Daniel. I agree both the husband and I said hurtful things and I admit that the argument escalated into personal insults. That statement about David was one such insult.

25. During this argument, the husband threatened me and told me if I left him for David. I would not see the child ever again. I believed the husband to be sincere in this threat. I was scared.

26. He told me 'you will suffer every day of your life if you do this.'

27. The husband has significant security and intelligence connections and has the means to procure such a threat.

28. The husband did leave for New York City the next day and left the child with me: however, there was extensive security around me and the child. We were followed wherever we went. I believe it was to ensure I did not leave.

29. I sincerely believed myself to be threatened. David and I had spoken before about moving to Montana where his aunt lived. I managed to communicate with him via telephone to organize us going away together.

Motivations in Removing the Child

30. I am an attentive, doting Mother and I love the child more than anything. I would never do anything that is not in his best interests.

31. I have been the primary carer of the child since his birth and the child is attached to me. I believed the Father would follow through on his threat that I would never see the child again and my actions in taking the child were done under great stress of this assertion.

32. I never intended to keep the child from the father's care permanently: rather, I needed to get away somewhere while the whole situation 'blew over.' I sincerely believed if I left openly the father would follow through on his threat to deny me access to the child.

33. The child would significantly suffer without me. He is still young and his primary attachment is to me.

34. The Father works full time and I did not believe the child would receive adequate supervision in his care. I do not like to leave the child in the care of staff.

35. I vehemently deny the assertion in paragraph 34 that my interest in motherhood is merely superficial. It is true that we had nannies, however, the child is not in day care and my time spent away with him is the same as most Mothers and is needed for me to perform necessary duties.

36. I deny that the example given in paragraph 25 reflects a detached attitude to parenting. I spent many special days and special occasions with the child personally.

37. I have been with the child for his whole birthday, Christmas and Thanksgiving every single year since his birth. The Father has worked or been otherwise absent for much of them.

38. I admit I am very protective of the child, and as stated above, I believed many of the activities the Father would take the child on to be inappropriate given his young age.

39. I deny that I undermine the Father's attempts at bonding with the child. I say that such attempts have been on the Father's terms only. For example, the Father has never visited the child's school, yet the child has been into the Father's office many times.

Other matters

40. I admit that I withdrew $5 million from the joint bank account on 1 September 1993 and I say that I am entitled to it given my intangible contributions to the marriage and to the company Grayson Global as stated above.

41. The husband is extremely angry about my exit from the marriage. I believe does not have the child's best interests at heart and his primary concern in this matter is to inflict emotional pain onto me. He knows that denying me spending any time with the child would do just that.

42. The husband has significant means to procure an exit from the country or to hide the child

Orders

43. I request that the child remain living with me and that the Father spend time with the child on a supervised basis only given his significant connections and intention to hurt me and remove the child from me permanently.